High on Life

"The health service issued 39.1m prescriptions for drugs to tackle depression in England in 2009, compared with 20.1m in 1999 – a 95% jump. Doctors handed out 3.18m more prescriptions last year than in 2008, almost twice the annual rise seen in preceding years, according to previously unpublished statistics released by the NHS's Business Services Authority."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/11/antidepressant-prescriptions-rise-nhs-recession)